Madeira trip report

Madeira truly is a paradise island with lots of stuff to see and do. Conveniently enough it is also quite small, so getting around is kinda quick. Thanks to lots of tunnels through the mountains, it can be even quicker. But then you miss the scenic route..

The inhabitants are very friendly and helpful, and the tourism has not struck Madeira as hard as, say, the Canary Islands. One thing that surprised me was the great knowledge of English. Almost everyone spoke impeccable British English. (I found to my great joy that they don't dub the TV- programmes into Portuguese, they have subtitles instead. Maybe that has something to do with it?)

view over Funchal

SLEEPING & EATING:
Stayed at the Florasol west of downtown Funchal (capital) - the staff and service is real nice, try to get a room in the tower if you can, ours had two balconies with sea view. The hotel restaurant is good (there is another restaurant at the pool deck that's supposed to be great), but the breakfast isn't much to hang in the Christmas tree, as we like to say in Sweden..


The eating experience was a real disappointment. Everything is deep-fried and the vegetables are overcooked or from cans. Beware of most restaurants!
We found the needle in the haystack though, every later attempt to try a new restaurant brought us right back to this one:

Trigal in Funchal (on the corner of Rua dos Aranhas and Rua da Carreira)
Great prices, an exciting menu (compared to lots of places here), fresh vegetables, yummy pizzas and awesome garlic bread! This will keep you fed all week long! Oh, except they're closed Sunday...

will be back after a short break
next: SHOPPING!

I am off to paradise island (I hope...) Madeira for a week of sunbathing and novel-reading.
Cya!

And look.. they have shopping too!

Black is the new black

I bought a pair of cheap pumps on Wedins the other day. They were an awful blue but the model was really nice. So I got myself some Boston shoe color. Two layers applied with a sponge, and the awful blue shoes turned into a tasteful black.
Now for the test drive.. Will they last through scratching or walks in the summer rain? Time will tell. The color turned out really nice though. So for now the status is : Recommended.

Bombay

After the concert I and bf went to one of my favourite restaurants in Gothenburg, Restaurang Bombay on Andra Långgatan. It's a lovley Indian (duh!) place with cheap, VERY yummy food. They have a great lunch offer too.

According to Göteborgs-Posten the service sucks, while we agree on the food part of the review. I have never had a bad experience with the service, the staff is very nice and helpful. However, I do think that the restaurant may be too small for it's popularity, it is always crowded and that might bring a little stress into the minds of the waiters. Nothing to whine about.

Now to the food..
We ordered Chicken Tikka Masala (picture) and Begum Bhara. And, of course, lots of naan.

The Chicken Tikka Masala is subtly spicy, it's not overwhelmingly strong when you eat it but after a while your nostrils start running. Which must be seen as a good sign. Read about Tikka Masala here.

The Begum Bhara is chicken in a cognac sauce with nuts and ground meat. It was milder than the tikka masala and complemented it very well.

My favourite Bombay dish is a dessert. The carrot cake is amazelicious. Not so much a cake as warm, runny dough poured over vanilla ice cream. It is very spicy with pieces of ginger and nuts. You cannot visit Bombay without tasting this.

Lager 157

Today a couple of friends and I went to Lager 157 in Gällstad, near Borås.

It has lost some of it's former glory, probably it does so in the same pace as becoming increasingly popular. Stuff is not as cheap as it used to be, which is kinda bothering me.
However, I am very pleased with the move and redecoration, it looks less like a warehouse and more like a boutique.

The finds today:

A light turquoise t-shirt from Abercrombie & Fitch

A couple of scarves

A pair of boxers / shorts? from Swedish brand Velour

Not bad.

When I got home though, I got a bad case of post-shoperative-angst. I rejected a t-shirt at the last moment, which I very much regret. It was a très soft and very cool tie-dye C&C California tee. Here it is:

I now absolutely love it because I cant get hold of it. And the price was ridiculously low compared to that on the homepage.. 220 SEK versus $ 62.00. I am such a fool!

It may be discussed whether I am a fool because of not buying the tee or whether, in fact, I am a fool because I am so stuck in the consumer-trap. I have absolutely no need for another t-shirt, no matter how soft or cool it is. Damnit. Sometimes it hurts to be clear-sighted.

Vacatierra

Yesterday I went to Musikens Hus for the finals in the Emergenza Festival music competition. Ten bands were playing, and I was totally swept away by one of them.

Vacatierra rocked!! A bunch of kids from Kungälv who apparently have been winning a lot lately (see here and here). The music was impossible not to move to, energetic hip-hop-ish soul with elements of pretty much everything (including amazing backup vocals). And I have never seen such well synched stage behavior and audience contact at a rookie concert before. They are definitely on the road towards big-ness!

Now if you kids could put some music samples on your webpage, so people get what I am talking about!!

White nectarines!

This is a little known fact in Sweden (at least I did not know until my friend pointed it out to me).
There are two kinds of nectarines, yellow ones and white ones. I never picked the white ones before, because I thought they were less ripe. This is wrong! Abroad I have noticed that they are sold separately, which would be nice to see here too.

To those of you who weren't aware of this most valuable piece of knowledge: look for nectarines that are WHITE and red on the outside. They are much more aromatic (smell them in the store) and have a sweeter taste, even in a state of crispiness where most yellow nectarines would find themselves tasting bitter and powdery.

Read more about this phenomenon here.

Tack Anna! Nu har jag också beach hair...

Idag gick jag äntligen och köpte saltvattensspray från H&M, efter att ha läst hyllningen på Annas (o Malins) blogg.

Jag avskyr nytvättat hår, det flyger och är mjukt och lent och oformligt. Helst ska det ha gått både två och tre dagar sedan man tvättade det sist, så att det håller sig där det ska vara och är lite trassligt och gôtt. Men det känns ju inte alltid så fräscht att vänta så länge kanske.

Har letat efter något som får håret att bli så med en gång efter tvätt men resultatet har inte varit tillfredsställande. Tills idag. Flaskan är rätt liten dock, undrar just om man kan göra eget saltvatten till håret eller om det är för elakt?

Nu är inte jag den som stylar mitt hår nästan någonsin, men man blir nästan lite sugen när man kollar in den här sidan(det finns även en kändisavdelning om man är lagd åt det hållet). Många många gallerier med inspiration, får nog ta fram locktången snart...

Se hit torrisar!

Apoteket kanske känns lite osexigt att gå till när man ska gå och handla krämiga krämer. Men, det går inte att förneka. De har sina pärlor.

Locobase Repair. Tillför kroppseget fett och ska vara riktigt bra för problemhy har jag hört. Själv faller jag inte in under den kategorin, men sol och salta bad kan ställa till en del ändå. Krämen är jättebra för läpparna bland annat, funkar bra under både läppstift och -glans.

CCS Fotvårdssalva innehåller 10% karbamid som binder fukt. Jag begränsar mig inte till fötterna utan avhjälper även torra sommarsmalben och armbågar med denna eukalyptusdoftande salva.

ACO Time Shimmering Bodylotion Q10. Mitt senaste Apoteket-fynd. En skimmer-kräm som ger musikvideo-textur till huden. Krämen luktar dessutom gott och håller fukten länge. Jättefin på tex lite brunbrända armar, jag hoppas på svenska sommaren!

Santa Inés

Jaha. Så har systern tagit studenten, och ingen tur med vädret fick hon. Tio och en halv grader. Men det har varit hemskt skoj ändå, försäkrade hon mig när hon blåfrusen anlände efter lastbilsflakandet. Här hemma hade vi buffé med allehanda godsaker, vilket leder mig till tipset.

Santa Inés lådvin från Chile. Nu är jag ingen raffinerad vinkännare och tänker därmed inte
förirra mig in i massa beskrivningar som hänvisar till flora och fauna, men DN skriver såhär:

"Det chilenska Santa Inés är ett mer klassiskt rödvin med mer karaktär och mindre knäckig druvsötma. Doften är öppen och tydlig med fin mognad och en bra, lite örtig ton av de båda druvsorterna, cabernet och carmenère. Smaken är lång och tydlig i en förvånansvärt och föredömligt sträv, rejäl och mycket matvänlig stil. "

Hursomhelst, jag vet vad jag gillar och inte. Det här fetdiggar jag. Väldigt "rik, lite eldig" smak, kanske jag ska våga mig på att säga.

Where to get it? Ja, det är ju som det är.. Systemet.

Quick English translation:
Yummy bag-in-box red wine: Santa Inés from Chile. Try it out.

My most recent time-waster

"Desperate Housewives" is dark, Tim Burton-esque (it should be, Danny Elfman made the theme) and very entertaining.
It takes place on Wisteria Lane, a perfect suburban street with green lawns and great neighbours. At least that's the way it seems...

The main characters differ very much in style and personality, not unlike Sex and the City. Instead of meeting at a local bar or café to do the heavy gossiping, they meet at home, playing poker. The juicy news can be anything from infidelity to cold blooded murder. However, they all keep more or less dark secrets from eachother too (which the girls in SATC never did, they found support in eachother). In this series, it's all about keeping up appearances.

I have to add this to my list of "What to see if you have to watch TV".

Te och bestick

Det här började med ett tips om mitt favoritte. Grönt te ska ju vara riktigt bra för hälsan har man hört, men ofta har det en omisskännlig arom av halm som knappast kan kamoufleras med honung.
Mitt absoluta favortitte, "Grönt & Skönt", är just grönt, men med väldigt fräsch och klar smak.
Teet ska smaka hallon och citrus, men detta är inget som dominerar eller ens märks om man frågar mig. Grönt & Skönt finns att köpa i lösvikt hos butiker som samarbetar med Te-specialisten.

Hursomhelst, när jag letade fin bild på teskedar, kom tipset även att omfatta en jättefin bestickserie jag har skaffat från IKEA. Den heter "DATA" och besticken är sådär tunga och sköna i handen, och har ett tunt, lite lyxigt handtag. Rekommenderas!